The Communication Challenge: Breaking Through the Noise

One of the most pressing issues organizers face today is ensuring their messages actually reach and resonate with their intended audiences. Simply sending information isn’t enough because attendees and vendors are overwhelmed with digital communications, making engagement a significant hurdle. The solution lies in strategic personalization and repetition. Successful organizers are leveraging dynamic content to create tailored experiences for different audience segments:

• For attendees, this means personalized session recommendations and networking opportunities that align with their specific interests and professional goals.
• For exhibitors, it involves sharing relevant performance metrics, ROI maximization tips, and visually compelling booth spotlights that drive meaningful engagement.

The magic number for effective communication appears to be three. Industry experts recommend sharing key messages at least three times through different channels and formats to ensure proper absorption. This repetition isn’t about being redundant; rather, it’s about meeting people where they are and reinforcing critical information through various touchpoints.

Technology Gaps: The Search for the Holy Grail Solution

Despite rapid technological advancement, organizers continue to grapple with a fundamental challenge: no single platform adequately addresses all event management needs. Current solutions excel in specific areas such as registration management, exhibitor sales, booth coordination, mobile applications or educational content delivery, but significant gaps remain across the board.

This fragmentation creates a complex decision-making environment for organizers. The time investment required to research and evaluate new technology providers is substantial, and implementation timelines often discourage switching from existing systems, even when those systems have known deficiencies. The result is a reluctant acceptance of imperfect solutions that meet some needs while leaving others unaddressed.

To navigate this challenge, industry professionals recommend engaging with technology through hands-on experiences. Attending industry events like Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting and Exhibition, IAEE Event Tech Demo Days, and similar forums allows organizers to experience solutions firsthand rather than relying solely on sales presentations and marketing materials.

Measuring Success: Beyond the Obvious Metrics

Evaluating technology effectiveness requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond simple usage statistics.

Post-event surveys remain crucial for gathering attendee and vendor feedback, but smart organizers are also monitoring staff adoption rates including app usage patterns, login frequencies and overall engagement levels. They’re also tracking attendee utilization across the entire event lifecycle – pre-show, during the event and post-show follow-up activities.

For exhibitors, success metrics include pre-show marketing engagement through apps or websites, appointment scheduling and attendee outreach activities and profile completion rates within event platforms. For example, chatbots can save an organization significant staff time by automating responses to common questions and freeing team members to focus on higher-value activities.

The AI Revolution: Personalization at Scale

Artificial intelligence is a game-changer for event technology, offering unprecedented opportunities for customization and automation. AI-driven segmentation is revolutionizing how organizers approach attendee experiences by analyzing preferences, behaviors and profiles to deliver highly personalized recommendations.

This technology enables event apps to suggest relevant sessions, exhibitors, and networking opportunities based on individual attendee interests and activity data. The result is enhanced engagement, improved satisfaction and more meaningful connections between all event stakeholders.

AI is also helping organizers bridge the gap between how they categorize information and how attendees actually think about and search for content. By refining existing categorization systems and uncovering previously hidden gaps, AI enables more intuitive and effective content organization that serves attendees better.

Looking Forward: Automation and Enhancement

The future of event technology lies in intelligent automation and cost-effective solutions that enhance rather than complicate the exhibition experience. AI agents are beginning to streamline complex workflows, identify upselling opportunities and guide participants through previously cumbersome processes.

Smart exhibition organizers are also developing AI-powered SEO strategies to improve attendee discovery and engagement, ensuring that valuable content and opportunities don’t get lost in the digital shuffle.

As B2B events continue to advance, the most successful exhibition organizers will be those who embrace technology as a tool for creating more meaningful, personalized and efficient experiences while maintaining the human connections that make the face-to-face marketplace truly valuable.

The post Event Tech Reality Check appeared first on IAEE.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

VR and AR technologies have revolutionized the way attendees experience trade shows. Show organizers can incorporate VR exhibitions and immersive experiences where attendees can explore products, interact with virtual vendors and visualize prototypes. AR applications can enhance engagement by providing real-time information, guiding attendees through the show floor and offering interactive experiences via mobile devices.

Implementing VR and AR requires collaboration with technology providers to develop compelling content and ensure a seamless user experience. By utilizing these technologies, show organizers are offering unique and engaging experiences to attendees by extending the reach of their exhibitions beyond physical boundaries.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

AI and ML technologies have a profound impact on attendee engagement and exhibitor ROI. Show organizers can leverage AI-powered chatbots to provide instant responses to attendee queries, guided recommendations for relevant exhibitors, and personalized event schedules. AI can also analyze attendee data to gain insights into their preferences, enabling organizers to design tailored experiences, drive targeted marketing campaigns and optimize show floor layouts.

Implementing AI and ML requires data integration, proper training of algorithms, and guaranteeing data privacy and security. By harnessing the power of AI and ML, show organizers are creating intelligent, data-driven trade shows that deliver personalized experiences and drive positive business outcomes.

Mobile Applications

Mobile applications have become indispensable tools for trade show participants. Show organizers can develop mobile apps that serve as comprehensive event guides that create personalized schedules, exhibitor directories, interactive maps and networking features. Push notifications and real-time updates can keep attendees informed about schedule changes, important announcements and offer personalized recommendations.

Implementing mobile applications requires user-friendly design, seamless integration with registration systems and robust infrastructure to handle large volumes of data traffic. By providing attendees with dedicated mobile apps, show organizers are enhancing engagement by facilitating networking and delivering complete event information to attendees’ fingertips. Additionally, as B2B events strive to reduce their carbon footprints, mobile applications aid in reducing waste by replacing printed programs – a sustainability win for all!

Internet of Things (IoT) and Beacon Technology

IoT and beacon technology enable the collection of real-time data and personalized experiences within trade show environments. Organizers can use IoT devices to track foot traffic, monitor attendee behavior and optimize traffic flow for better navigation. Beacon technology can provide location-based information, push notifications for exhibitor offers and facilitate lead retrieval by automatically exchanging contact details.

Implementing IoT and beacon technology requires infrastructure setup, data analytics capabilities, and exhibitor buy-in for deploying beacon devices. By leveraging IoT and beacon technology, show organizers are revolutionizing attendee experiences through personalized interactions and providing valuable insights to exhibitors.

B2B exhibitions are undergoing a technology-driven transformation that will continue to unfold and expand over time. Savvy show organizers are embracing technology disruptors to deliver enhanced attendee experiences, increased exhibitor ROI and overall event success. By taking full advantage of the capabilities new technologies offer, show organizers are designing dynamic and engaging experiences that resonate with attendees and drive business growth in the digital age.

The post Technology Disruptors Transforming B2B Events appeared first on IAEE.

CEIR Research Council Member John Galante is President and Founder of AE Ventures, a hosted event innovator that drives extraordinary progress at the intersection of technology and construction. Galante has additional experience as a publisher, editor and business development leader with EH Media, and worked in event development and management for several years with Reed Exhibition Companies. He also has a wealth of experience in the association realm, having served on a number of industry boards and committees, launched associations, and worked as a senior staff member of the Consumer Technology Association and chief staff executive of the Security Industry Association.

Galante talked with CEIR about the effect the pandemic has had on how content is created and presented at AE Ventures’ Techome Builder Summit and the Housing Transformation Summit, and where he sees content headed as events continue to evolve. He shares ways in which organizers can both improve their in-person content and convert it to enduring online video assets that deliver value and sustain connection with audiences year-round.

Every story has a beginning, so tell us yours.

We specialize in hosted events where we cover the flights, hotel and registration costs of VIP-level players in the markets that we serve as well as provide a top-notch, executive experience. Our events are immersive and intense with a strong focus on learning in the niches we address and connecting guests with vendors in deeper, more substantive ways. We aim to help our builder and multifamily company guests make progress on home tech, digital transformation and innovation. In recognition of that offer, guests are required to attend the event from start to finish and to follow the detailed itinerary that we lay out for them which includes general session content, board room presentations from our sponsors and one-on-one meetings on a scheduled basis with our sponsors. There’s time for browsing and typical trade show serendipity, but everything is very precisely managed and orchestrated so that the event is extremely efficient and productive for both the guests and the sponsors.

COVID obviously brought all of that to a screeching halt, and for the last two years the industry has steadily been making its way back to its pre-pandemic activity levels. What effect did this have on your events?

What I described has been our formula; the thing that’s happened since COVID is an even stronger focus on content for us. We have a lot of expertise in the market that we serve, and we use it not just to reflect the market, but to inspire it, tackling entrenched industry issues and obstacles to progress.

Since COVID we have stepped up our content, both in terms of its intent and in our style for producing it. Like a lot of organizers, during COVID we produced online events, and when we produced our first one, we basically took our stock format and put cameras on it. What we learned was that there was a lot of “blah, blah, blah” and only a few golden nuggets captured that way. That just doesn’t translate online whether it’s live or on-demand. Viewers click off during the “blah, blah, blah.”

So we started to do more editing and post-production on video for the second run, and that led to the realization we could capture and edit content for live events. I don’t believe in live streaming; I don’t think you get audiences for live streaming. I don’t care if it’s Gary Shapiro’s keynote address at CES or what have you, people just don’t make time for it. People don’t even make time for Beyoncé live streaming.

I believe in “capture” and not letting great content evaporate by doing good editing and post-production on it, and then putting it in the form factors that people will actually watch online – which tend to be shorter. That can be extremely valuable. Thinking about our sessions as video content also prompted us to change our style, moving us to more of a talk show style.

That opens up a broad range of possibilities, so how do you determine the subject matter?

We asked people what they want, but found they don’t necessarily know what they need. For example, I’m trying to incentivize builders to do more with technology and digital transformation. It’s a recalcitrant audience, they are not naturally innovators. So I have to understand enough about the market, and its opportunities, to push on the cutting edge in terms of things I think they will be inspired by.

That’s differentiated content for them and there aren’t a lot of people out there willing to take risks like that, like we do. I have 30 years in the space; I’ve worked at trade associations in a broad-based way, not just in the event world, so I have a lot of expertise that allows me to proselytize and challenge. And it’s worked; they appreciate that.

Tell us about your new approach.

Part of what we’ve done is stylistic. I was just talking about this, this morning. Scrolling around on LinkedIn, I’ve got a lot of event industry friends and connections, and I see all these middle-aged guys sitting in comfy chairs on a stage staring out at an audience. I’ve been the middle-aged guy in the comfy chair staring out at the audience – it’s not comfortable, I can’t hear what anyone else is saying on the panel and it’s just weird, awkward really.

We want it to be more like a talk show. We sit at a table and we have a discussion. So now, I can take a builder that I didn’t ask to do a presentation. He has a ton of expertise, he has some really cool things to teach, and I can just have a relaxed conversation with him at a table that the audience can listen in on. I’m getting way better substance; I’m getting way better comfort levels and people don’t need to stare at a bunch of middle-aged men’s guts sticking out in these comfy chairs on stage. We’ve all gotten used to it, it’s the standard, but I find it awkward [laughs].

How does your process work?

We start by catering to our live, in-person attendees. Then we’ve got unmanned, pan tilt zoom (PTZ), high-definition cameras in the audience on tripods (three of them). We have a camera operator with the PTZs getting the right camera angle and we’re taking in the live streams of the PowerPoint deck. That gives us four streams of high-definition content to work with and put together interesting post-produced pieces. We create a long form version of the session and then we chapterize it into 10- to 12-minute chunks that people can easily consume online.

All of this is flowing into a content library that we’ve created where we can catalog the information by product, process and key concepts. It sits alongside our vendor showcase pages, which are not just listings, but really places where our sponsors can store all of their relevant information that they’d like a builder or a multifamily company to consume in order to understand what their company does and offers. So that’s where we’re at right now.

Where will you take it from there?

We soft-launched builderinnovator.com on May 31. We’re really excited about it. We think we can monetize it at some level. That may reach a big level over time but, even short term and from a guest recruitment perspective, if somebody can view two or three nuggets of content from our sessions and find more information similar to what we publish in our guides and other materials, now I’m in a much better position to recruit them to come to our events!

How do you foresee this increasing your attendee acquisition?

It’s really hard to go from “I don’t know you” to “I’m going to give you three days of my time.” If you’re someone working at a high level – a billion dollar or 5 billion dollar-a-year homebuilding company – the status quo approach is not going to attract you to our event. We need to warm them up and establish our credentials as the authority of our industry. That’s what we’re going to do with the Builder Innovator library which is fed from the events and from the video production capability that we’ve developed over the last couple of years.

Where do you see the added benefit in your strategy?

I feel that an interview and/or discussion with somebody who’s an expert in implementing successful strategies, or even on the vendor side of things – somebody who’s a knowledgeable thought leader – is a richer presentation full of information and advice. We’re leveraging our core competency, which is putting together great discussions and great back-and-forth among industry experts, and we’re creating our digital media content out of that.

And then we reverse engineer it into the text realm so that the PowerPoint deck becomes interesting, and the transcript or blog post that’s based on that discussion becomes interesting. We end up with multi-channel content that has a high level of expertise being built up very cost effectively.

Is it going with technology, is it going with trends? It absolutely is! But it’s not a digital transformation initiative, it’s what we do. We’re always trying to have the better mouse trap, always trying to improve our content, and we’re always trying to leverage technology because we’re creating events that focus on technology and digital transformation so it’s not just part of an initiative, it’s in our DNA.

What kind of investment did it take?

We figured out a way to make an incremental investment on the AV side of things. If you just turn the keys over to your average AV vendors and you don’t value engineer it you could, I’m sure, pay through the nose. We didn’t. It becomes an incremental AV investment as we figure out how to do the post-production work as cost effectively as possible. We had some editing done in Pakistan for a while, by somebody’s name we don’t even really know [laughs].

We’re gradually bringing it in-house but we’re trying to leverage cost effective resources there. For example, consider young professionals that work in ad agencies or even in the movie and broadcast news business, that don’t get paid an arm and a leg to do this work. Some of them want to follow their dream to be a movie producer or be in broadcast news, but some of them get fed up working in the salt mine for next to nothing and they’re available as talent.

We’re very value conscious. It can be done with good focus and investment of time and thinking it through. Just this morning I was talking to fellas headquartered in Belgium about software that’s used to produce talk shows, so I’m looking at broadcast news for my model on the content production side of things. I want to bring more order and process definition to what we do on content, but everywhere I’ve been involves some creative madperson who has their own processes on a spreadsheet or Word document which is how they put their content together. I want to have a more orderly, controlled process but I have to look outside of the event industry for my models on that.

What is your advice to a team looking to implement something similar?

First, you need someone on your team, at a pretty high level with industry expertise, to start thinking like a video content producer. In some ways, it’s not a big leap for a typical conference/content director but in some ways it is. You’ve got to think about and pre-engineer those bite-sized chunks in your in-person content and that’s a level of control and direction that is not common in the event industry. It’s not rocket science, but it takes a lot of communication and planning. Second, you’ll need to work hard with GSCs and AV companies to get staging and video capture right AND COST EFFECTIVE. Third, you need to develop the editing and post-production resources and workflows. Finally, it’s about an online destination that’s optimized for video viewing, has the right tagging and indexing, and then gets promoted and viewed.

There is a lot to do, and we still have a ways to go ourselves.

When we get it right and have total proof of concept, maybe we can figure out how to help other organizers. I truly believe this is a great way for event producers to get the audience connectivity and stickiness they need to deliver in-person attendance, and I believe the monetization piece will be there in time, too. The print journalist mentality of most B2B publishers is baggage that will hold them back from truly seizing the day on video, and we can eat some of their lunch.

Stay tuned!

Visit the CEIR Store to find more information and inspiration for innovative solutions to your events!

The post No Guts, No Glory: John Galante’s Journey to High Quality Content, In-Person and Online appeared first on IAEE.

#1 Enhanced Marketing Strategies

AI empowers event organizers with powerful tools to enhance their marketing strategies. Event management platform Bizzabo utilizes AI algorithms to analyze data from previous events, social media platforms and attendee registrations. These insights enable organizers to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns, optimizing messaging, identifying the most effective channels, and improving return on investment (ROI).

#2 Personalized Attendee Experiences

AI enables event organizers to deliver personalized experiences that engage attendees. Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual conference, employs an AI-powered chatbot named “Einstein” to interact with attendees. Einstein provides personalized information including session recommendations, event logistics and networking opportunities, enhancing attendee engagement and satisfaction.

#3 Resource Allocation Optimization

AI assists event organizers in optimizing resource allocation. Event management platform EventGeek offers AI-powered analytics that determine optimal staffing requirements based on historical data, attendance patterns and event characteristics. This ensures efficient resource utilization, minimizes costs and streamlines logistics.

#4 Data-Driven Decision Making

AI empowers event organizers to make informed decisions based on data-driven insights. Eventbrite utilizes AI to analyze attendee data, social media interactions and ticket sales, providing actionable insights for organizers. This enables them to optimize event content, tailor marketing strategies and improve overall event planning.

#5 Event Experience Enhancement

AI technologies enhance the event experience for both attendees and exhibitors. Major events like CES and SXSW have implemented facial recognition technology for seamless registration, eliminating physical badges and reducing wait times. AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants, such as IBM’s “Watson” provide real-time support, answer attendee questions and offer personalized recommendations, ensuring a smooth and interactive event experience.

#6 Predictive Analytics and Risk Mitigation

AI’s predictive analytics capabilities enable event organizers to anticipate and mitigate risks. SAP utilizes AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze data, including historical event data and external factors like weather conditions. This helps predict attendance rates accurately, allowing organizers to adjust venue capacity and resources accordingly.

#7 Social Media Engagement and Influencer Marketing

AI-powered tools enable event organizers to harness the power of social media and influencer marketing. For instance, Socialbakers offers AI-driven social media analytics to identify relevant influencers and optimize influencer campaigns. This enhances event visibility, increases engagement and attracts a wider audience.

#8 Personalized Recommendations and Networking Opportunities

AI-driven recommendation engines facilitate personalized recommendations and networking opportunities. Event platform Grip uses AI algorithms to match attendees based on their profiles and preferences, fostering meaningful connections and maximizing networking potential. These personalized recommendations enhance attendee satisfaction and engagement.

#9 Intelligent Event Scheduling and Conflict Resolution

AI-powered scheduling systems optimize event scheduling and minimize conflicts. Event management platform Hubb utilizes AI algorithms to analyze session topics, attendee preferences and resource availability. This ensures a balanced event schedule, minimizes overlapping sessions and maximizes attendee participation.

#10 Post-Event Analysis and ROI Measurement

AI enables post-event analysis and accurate ROI measurement. Cvent, a leading event management platform, uses AI-powered analytics to assess event success, measure attendee satisfaction and calculate ROI. These insights help organizers understand event impact, make informed decisions for future events and demonstrate the value of their investments.

As the events marketing landscape continues to evolve, embracing the transformative power of AI becomes imperative for companies in the industry. AI technologies offer a plethora of opportunities to enhance marketing.

Take advantage of CEIR’s vast library of data and tools to help event organizers improve and grow their events here.

The post Unleashing the Potential: How AI is Transforming the Events Marketing Landscape appeared first on IAEE.

Consider this: by 2030, according to futurist Rohit Talwart, AI’s (artificial intelligence) potential contribution to the global economy will be $15.7 trillion. To provide some context, the U.S. deficit in 2023 is estimated to be $1.4 trillion. Microsoft is investing $108 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Billions of dollars are being invested in the metaverse, and once Web 3.0 is fully developed, we will have a better understanding of the impact of these technologies.

As is the case with any emerging technology, there are opportunities and risks. I do not pretend to understand all of these technologies, but I know enough to see that there are opportunities and risks for the exhibitions industry. The opportunity comes from using these emerging technologies to the benefit of your events. The risk is doing nothing. As an example, one application is using AI for a better understanding of how to leverage AI to create personalized experiences for your attendees.

Digital transformation and digitizing content is especially important, and companies are hopefully investing in their technology infrastructure to prepare for emerging technologies. Many organizers will courageously be in the forefront of innovation. Does your software have AI capabilities, and if so, how can they be used to your show’s benefit?

In order for trade shows to continue their success, organizers must prioritize data literacy and capabilities. If no one on staff has the skills, experience and knowledge, hire a contractor that does. Remember that one thing that holds true today is the ability to provide metrics that provide proof of value for trade shows to exhibitors and attendees. There will be, and are, other ways for them to connect. Leverage technology for your benefit.

I hope to see you at Predict: CEIR’s Annual Outlook Conference on 29-30 August 2023 at the MGM National Harbor, where we will discuss these disruptors along with their challenges and opportunities, and ones to come.

About the Author

Cathy Breden, CMP-F, CAE, CEM serves as Executive Vice President & COO for the International Association of Exhibitions & Events® (IAEE) and CEO for the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), whose primary purpose is to promote the growth, awareness and value of exhibitions and other face-to-face marketing events by producing and delivering research-based knowledge tools.

Cathy is a frequent presenter on the areas of exhibition industry trends and the power of exhibitions in face-to-face marketing. She is currently serving as Chairperson on the Events Industry Council’s Board of Directors. She is also adjunct faculty at Dallas College, Richland Campus.

Cathy is a Certified Association Executive (CAE), Certified Meeting Professional Fellow (CMP-F) and Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM). She is a graduate of Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.

The post The March of Advancing Technologies appeared first on IAEE.

By Mary Tucker, Sr. PR/Communications Manager, IAEE

Last week, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) presented a webinar, Emergent Cybersecurity Update: Trends, Threats and Solutions, hosted by CEIR CEO Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE, CEM and featuring Dr. Jennifer Hesterman, Vice President of Business Resiliency at Watermark Risk Management International.

Hesterman is a retired Air Force colonel, serving three Pentagon tours and commanding in the field multiple times. Her final assignment was Vice Commander, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where she led installation security and protection of Air Force One, force support and the 1^st Helicopter Squadron. She is the recipient of the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service medal with five oak leaf clusters and the Global War on Terrorism medal, among others.

Hesterman provided valuable information on industry disruptors at last year’s CEIR Predict Conference and her latest presentation provides an update on the current threat environment that companies need to consider.

Just about everything we do today is done through digital means. While we appreciate the speed and convenience technology offers, we must also be mindful of potential security threats and stay on top of how to avoid and/or diffuse them. Hesterman illustrates using the visual of a stormy ocean.

“There is so much happening; there’s conflicts happening, there’s new actors on the scene, there’s new apps being exploited, new ways that the actors exploit us, so it’s really a perfect storm for cybersecurity,” she says. “But there’s a glimmer of hope, there’s a lot we can do.”

The most current cybersecurity threats – phishing, network intrusion, inadvertent disclosure, stolen/lost device records and system misconfiguration – are equally threatening to organizations across the world. The many ways in which a bad actor can infiltrate an organization means that every team member must have an understanding and exercise proper precautions when it comes to opening the door to cyberthreats.

In 2021, the damage caused by ransomware alone was $20 billion according to research experts Cybersecurity Ventures. By 2031, the company projects the damage will rise to $265 billion with ransomware expected to attack a business, consumer or device every 2 seconds (as opposed to every 11 seconds in 2021).

In addition to phishing and ransomware, other cyberthreats include hacking, imposter scams, environmental events and malicious insiders. All of which threaten what the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) calls the “CIA Triad,” an organization’s Confidentiality (the protection of information from unauthorized access and disclosure), Integrity (protecting information from unauthorized modification) and Availability (preventing disruption in how information is accessed).

How do we protect ourselves from the seemingly endless line of threats? Hesterman provides detailed explanation of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework that can be adapted to many technologies, lifecycle phases, sectors and uses including the private sector, academia and public sector:

1. Identify. Develop organizational understanding to manage cybersecurity risk to systems, assets, data and capabilities. What are you trying to protect?
2. Protect. Develop and implement the appropriate safeguards to ensure delivery of services. Create a culture where everyone “does” security.
3. Detect. Develop and implement the appropriate activities to identify the occurrence of a cybersecurity event.
4. Respond. Develop and implement the appropriate activities to take action regarding a detected cybersecurity event.
5. Recover. Develop and implement appropriate activities to maintain plans for resilience and restore any capabilities or services impaired due to a cybersecurity event.

In addition, she provides integral solutions to identify and effectively deal with an insider threat and implementing “converged security” (the formal collaboration between disjointed security functions).

After all, despite the great amount of technology that surrounds the way we live and conduct business, there are still people involved. And people, unfortunately, are the weakest link in cybersecurity. However, Hesterman notes that an informed person can also be one of the strongest defenses against cyber criminals.

What does this mean for exhibition organizers? As Hesterman demonstrates, the same precautions taken by individuals and organizations can be applied to exhibitions and events. View the complete webinar, Emergent Cybersecurity Update: Trends, Threats and Solutions, to learn how you can protect yourself, your organization and your exhibitions from the latest cyberthreats.

The post How Cybersecure Are You? appeared first on IAEE.

Our industry connects people. We connect people to learn from each other, to buy and sell from each other, and to have fun with like-minded peers.

COVID has highlighted how many different ways this value of connection can be offered.

There are two spectrums we think about: 1) From fully in-person with no digital components, to fully virtual with no physical components 2) From highly curated connections like a 1-1 meeting or a 10 person roundtable to mass marketed multi-thousand person events.

As an event organizer, deciding which variables to toggle up and down isn’t so obvious. I’ll share a few ways we make sense of these options.

Virtual, In-Person, Both, or Hybrid?

As you might expect, there is no one-size-fits all answer. It’s unlikely you’ll arrive at a “this is our format strategy for all of our events” conclusion. At my company, our main show is a cross-industry technology event focused on helping Fortune 500 companies adopt artificial intelligence. The dynamics of that event are different from the dynamics of our real estate technology conference, which are different from the dynamics of a banking transformation event series, which will be different still from our new crypto show launches serving the DeFi and NFT Art communities. 

Each group of people has different connection needs at different times, and seeks to fulfill those needs in different ways. 

For example, our AI conferences translated well to a fully-digital format during COVID because most of our attendees are tech savvy people who already self-learn online, and AI is not something you need to touch and feel to understand, so experiencing our events digitally wasn’t a major leap. We’ve been able to hold successful fully digital events in late Q1 2022 for our AI community, whereas our real estate community is less interested in convening virtually in 2022 and wants to be fully physical. So we’re not hosting fully-digital events for our real estate tech series and are adding more physical events.

So the first question to ask is “does the community I serve prefer physical or digital connection experiences?” For our real estate tech series, it’s a resounding “physical!” while for our AI event series it’s “some of us want digital and some of us want physical,” so we’re going to continue providing them with both.

Then when it comes to mixing physical and digital experiences, or “hybrid,” we do not have plans to build a robust virtual event at the exact same time as our physical events, which is some people’s definition of hybrid. For us, providing many digital connection opportunities at a physical event is critical, and makes all the physical events we do “hybrid.” For example, our largest show is our AI event taking place this August at the MGM Grand in Vegas. It’s a 2,000-3,000 person event, and we have a variety of digital connection experiences that we feel are table stakes for any physical event today:

• Provide a networking app to let people set meetings in-person. Then we go a step further by setting permissions within the app so that certain attendee types have more networking access than others, adding additional value to special groups to help them cut through the noise.
• Track attendee movement using bluetooth. At both our AI event in Vegas and our real estate tech event this July in NYC, we’ll be using bluetooth beacons to track where attendees go. This allows us to understand our product better to know which types of people like which portions of the event, and it allows us to provide sponsors with a data offering that they’ve become accustomed to through fully digital events.

These types of “digital” components to a physical event represent a “hybrid” experience for participants, enabling more effective connections in-person by leveraging digital tools. 

Highly curated, small format connections or large events?

Similar to the “digital vs. physical” strategy, the type of connection experience you offer depends on the community you are helping connect. “Does the community I serve prefer small format highly curated connections, larger format shows, or a combo?”

As an example, our banking event brand focuses on senior level banking executives. These people are high-level strategy type people who oversee large portions of their banks, and theire ideal connection experience is a highly curated gathering in a peer-to-peer learning environment with a small quality selection of vendors. This series is invite-only, meaning a pass cannot be purchased to that event. It’s very interactive with many roundtable discussions and Q&A based sessions to let attendees get the strategic information they want out of each other. This series will scale to multiple cities, convening smaller groups of about 100 executives in each one. It likely won’t become a multi-thousand person event, and that’s ok.

Our AI event on the other hand does support a large format event. As a space, people are still making sense of AI and don’t even know all of the right questions to ask, so they’re seeking out a wide array of information and people to figure out their way. However, while our Vegas AI event is a larger format with a tradeshow floor and 10 simultaneous stages, it is a combination format in that we host 1-1 hosted buy meetings and 12 person roundtables within the larger format.

Stay true to the connection needs of your community

At the end of the day, if you understand the nuances of the community you serve and honestly think about which connection experience dynamics would be most beneficial, it’s likely you’ll be able to anticipate which format combinations will help the people you serve.

And by intentionally creating thoughtful connection experiences for these communities, you reinforce the value that we add as an industry. 

I can confidently say that there are few people on Earth who have spent as much time learning about the nuanced needs of AI professionals and how to help them connect with each other. And the thing to realize is that there aren’t “AI professionals” doing that. This job is for our industry: the events, tradeshow, “connection experience” industry. 

I hope this short piece provoked some helpful thoughts for you. Architecting connection experiences is a highly valuable service to provide, and while the exact architecture will continue to evolve- through pandemics, new technologies, and the rest- someone will still need to be thoughtful about which experience to create. That is until AI takes it over of course…but that’s for another post :). 

Michael Weiss

Michael co-founded a conference organizer company called Ai4 with his college friend Marcus Jecklin. Ai4 started as a 400 person AI for financial services conference in 2018 in NYC, and has grown into a 2,500 person AI for everything conference in Las Vegas. Beyond the AI event, Ai4 has launched half a dozen other tech-focused brands in other industries. Prior to Ai4, Michael led history’s first privatized effort to organize a Worlds Fair in the United States. Michael resides in Austin, TX and beyond event organizing, his interests include longevity, AI, belief systems, and spending time with his partner Ally and dog Bean.

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Like a weather forecast that tells you when to grab an umbrella on your way out the door, our COVID-19 forecasts help you figure out what epidemic mitigation measures make sense in the future. Forecasts are never perfect, but they increase the odds that you will make the right call.

Our Q2 2022 Forecast presents six-month projections of the COVID-19 pandemic across 19 U.S. cities. These cities include major population centers and important travel hubs, offering a representative snapshot of the entire U.S. epidemic. We calculate the forecast for each city using historical data, including previous cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, as well as the number of partially vaccinated, fully vaccinated, and boosted individuals. The timing of these historical infections and vaccinations are important because they determine the level of immunity in each individual and the susceptibility to infection in the population overall at any point in time.

We also use data from COVID-19  seasonal transmission patterns and changes in human behavioral responses. Importantly, we assume that boosters continue at the current rate of adoption in any area, and we assume that mask mandates have been lifted and people are waning on their social distancing and stay-at-home behaviors. As with all forecasts, uncertainty increases the farther you look ahead. When you examine the following graphs, consider not only the median line, but also the shaded region around it. That region represents 95% of the range of output from our simulations—i.e.  the prediction interval—and will give you a sense of the range of possible scenarios. 

We’ve chosen to display hospitalizations rather than cases because we think that hospitalizations are a stronger indicator of the current state of the pandemic. Hospitalizations show not only how high a COVID-19 peak will be, but also show the relative severity of the current dominant strain. 

You can use these forecasts to plan ahead, whether you’re trying to figure out when and where to host an event, booking a vacation, or wondering what mitigations might be required for the next school term. We are projecting a stretch of low COVID-19 levels through the spring and summer for most locations, with rising infection rates as we enter late summer in southern locations and early fall everywhere else. We expect additional waves in southern cities like Atlanta, Orlando, and Nashville around August, with cases starting to rise in July before falling in September. For non-southern large cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, we are forecasting a very gradual fall wave, with cases slowly increasing through August.

This forecast suggests that most Americans will experience a low-COVID spring and summer and return to most pre-pandemic activities with optional masking. Then, depending on your region, you should keep a sharp eye on how things evolve toward the end of the summer and mask for indoor activities if cases increase for two consecutive weeks in your area. 

Scroll down to see COVID-19 forecasts for Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The peaks in hospitalizations forecasted here could turn out to be lower if a new round of vaccinations is implemented, or the peaks could be higher if a new viral variant emerges.

Atlanta

The city of Atlanta  is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the beginning of April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. Starting in April, we expect hospitalizations to stay the same until June, when they begin increasing again through early August. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Atlanta falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Austin

The city of Austin is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late July before decreasing into September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Austin falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Boston

The city of Boston is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 10 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Boston falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Charlotte

The city of Charlotte is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June,  we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late July, before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Charlotte falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Chicago

The city of Chicago is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 30 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Chicago falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Dallas

The city of Dallas is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late August before decreasing into September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 0.42 per 100,000 individuals per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Dallas falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Denver

The city of Denver is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Denver falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Houston

The city of Houston is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 15 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Houston falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Las Vegas

The city of Las Vegas is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until early August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Las Vegas falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Nashville

The city of Nashville is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing then holding steady until early June. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until a peak in late July, before decreasing again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 8 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Nashville falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

New Orleans

The city of New Orleans is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to be gradually increasing. In June we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing sharply until late July before they fall again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, New Orleans falls into the medium transmission category for the next three months.

New York

The city of New York is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In July, we expect hospitalizations to begin moderately increasing through the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 1 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, New York falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Orlando

The city of Orlando is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early May we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August, before decreasing again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Orlando falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through the fall. For the entire projected period, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Philadelphia falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Sacramento

The city of Sacramento is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Sacramento falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Antonio

The city of San Antonio is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to mid-May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Antonio falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Diego

The city of San Diego is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In late-June we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Diego falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Francisco

The city of San Francisco is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to April we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In mid-April, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until July before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 40 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Francisco falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Washington, DC

The city of Washington, DC is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In mid-April, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through July then holding steady until September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 50 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Washington, DC falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

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I have a confession that I’ll share in confidence. I think that corporate buzzword bingo may have been one of the best inventions ever. I won’t tell you if I’ve ever played it during an actual meeting, leaving that to your imagination, but know even if I wasn’t actively competing against a co-worker, I was certainly playing the solitaire version in my head. The hubbub that is generated around the buzzword de jour has always fascinated me because, in so many cases, the concepts represented by the new popular moniker are exactly the same as the previous, but now archaic, buzzword.

For the last several years, and more recently at a fever pitch within the events industry, Digital Transformation (DT) has been the neon beacon shining bright from the headlines. Full disclosure: as I provide consultation services around DT, I too have been known to splash in the buzzword pool frequently. But I do so from a perspective of doing my best to help customers understand the no nonsense approach to these sometimes overwhelming initiatives.

If you take a moment to recall, I bet you’ll remember that prior to DT being all the rage, previous incarnations included “Data-driven insights” or “Business Intelligence” or “Enterprise Data Strategies”. They’ve all been blogged about at length. In my experience, at the core of all these initiatives, including Digital Transformation, rests the ever-present and fundamental “Data”. One cannot create a DT strategy without first starting with the data. In actuality, there is a level even more primordial than data, and that is the customer. There is no such thing as Digital Transformation without a data-centricity and there is no value in leveraging data unless it ultimately results in customer value.

Some may ask, isn’t Digital Transformation within the events industry really just providing virtual events or a 365-customer marketplace? Well, those tools could be a part of a DT plan, but it’s certainly not the entirety of a solid strategy. Since all events occur within the boundaries of their own respective industry verticals and market sectors, a 365-community may resonate supremely within one vertical, producing engagement statistics that any organization would be proud to boast, while that same community strategy within a different vertical could find itself at the bottom of the unsuccessful tech initiatives wastebasket.

These extreme opposites in results, while deploying identical toolsets or strategies, result because there is simply no one-solution-fits-all approach to the business of Digital Transformation. Success only comes with hard-to-achieve commitment to customer engagement, relentless focus on data, high pain tolerance during change, and leadership fortitude, along with an equal amount of organizational, operational, AND technology toolset evolution. If done successfully, all digital transformation initiatives will result in organizational change and that fact alone is typically at the core of why there are so many failed or marginally successful attempts.

I had a discussion with Chris Brown, EVP of National Association of Broadcasters Business (NAB) Operations, regarding digital transformation within the events industry. Chris sees that organizers are working hard to evolve their business DNA to include a data-centric perspective and recognizes that it is indeed an evolution that is not easily executed. “What’s the right way to collect data? What data can or should be collected? How do we get deeper and richer insight into our customers? And how do we make sense of it all in a way that drives value and can be made into a repeatable toolset?” Chris adds that to get it right, he believes it takes a vision and commitment lasting over several years. The transformation is an evolution of an organization that requires direction and persistence.

For NAB, Chris explained that their digital strategy was not to focus specifically on the virtualization of any specific event, but to focus first on building an engaging community available throughout the year. “This requires a mental shift away from a more transactional thinking that is common with face-to-face-centric organizations.” NAB has been at the tip of the spear with this type of initiative and launched NAB Amplify in March 2021. NAB Amplify will serve to fuel commerce beyond NAB’s live events and increase global collaboration and conversations by creating an accessible and essential destination and resource for the community to connect and engage in real time, 365 days a year.

Even though their community is already live, Chris acknowledges that it is a multi-year initiative that will take many iterations of development and investment to realize the ultimate vision. “The event industry can be challenged at thinking in terms of long-term plans such as a 5-year strategy. Some think that the rate of change makes such a long-term vision useless.” NAB expects to change the shape of their plan as needed by external demands, but they do so while keeping their core vision centered.

Bob McLean, CPA, CAE, CEM, interim President at Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) and Chairman of the Board of International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), and I recently spoke about DT as well. Bob recognized that even though COVID may have greatly increased the need for a solid digital strategy within the industry, most organizers have been so tapped with launching virtual events, and now planning for the safe return to face-to-face events, it has been very difficult for them to find the time to plan strategically. For PPAI, they had relegated the 365-day community outreach strategy to the membership side of the organization. Now, they are committed to extending their market reach by providing a virtual event experience after their face-to-face event occurs. Bob states that their strategy is focused on “capturing more relevant and meaningful data and then using that data to be forward looking as opposed to looking back. The goal is to drive improving the customer experience and the overall value of our event.”

A concept that many seem to agree on is that digital reach should be about expanding lead generation opportunities, engaging larger audiences, and providing more value to all participants. That is no small order for any strategic plan. For us to have collective success, we’re all going to have to transform our skills, our perspectives, and our thinking to truly become “digital first”.

Many existing, as well as newcomer, vendors are going to be challenged to up their game in regard to data. The lack of industry data standards and prevalence of bespoke solutions has allowed the events industry to operate far too long while poorly supporting a data-centric value proposition. I was born and raised a software engineer, so I understand what’s been going on here. Software technologists are far more excited by generating and capturing data in scalable and reliable ways as opposed to being primarily driven by data-output business value. The next big wave in our industry’s digital transformation is that companies making this switch well will survive and prosper and those who do not will be washed away by the digital tide.

To summarize what I believe about the big DT – there is gold in them hills! But just like mining ore, it takes a lot of effort, planning, building, tearing down, broken shovels and scuffed knees to finally hit that vein that will transform your organization and community. Ask any miner while they’re in the midst of it and you may get an earful of pain, but talk with those that stuck with it and persevered, and they are smiling mighty big!

Brian Scott, President of ClearTone Consulting and Partner of techmatch.co, is an exhibitions industry technology executive with 35 years of technology-innovation experience and 21 years of executive leadership experience. He currently provides consultation services for companies and associations to help them leverage technology to achieve their strategic aspirations and to accelerate their digital transformations.

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Necessity is the Mother of Invention

COVID-19 has propelled innovations in many industries, the B2B exhibition industry is no exception. Globally, we have witnessed an explosion of virtual events happening in our space, as documented in the 2021 CEIR Global Virtual Event Study Part One. The trigger has been COVID-19. While COVID-19 remains a factor, and it is likely to be one in 2021, it is essential for B2B exhibitions to jump in and engage with their communities via these types of events.

CEIR’s January 2021 COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Survey with US B2B Exhibition Organizer Survey documents that the pivot to virtual events among those forced to cancel is almost universal, with 88% of organizers that were forced to cancel 2021 events offering one or more virtual events in their stead. And among those that have postponed their events to another time in 2021 or later, 71% are hedging their bets by using a hybrid model, either giving attendees the choice to participate in-person or virtually or building a virtual event back-up plan. These actions are wise given today’s dynamic, fast-changing business environment.

What’s in a Virtual Event? What Makes Sense As Is and What Needs to Evolve?

CEIR Global Virtual Event Study Part One details the most popular elements of virtual events offered by organizations that traditionally run or manage in-person trade shows. Interested readers are encouraged to download the report to see current results on the full array of offerings of events and how they are performing to-date.

What I want to consider in this blog: Which offerings typically included in a virtual event today makes sense for the two-dimensional medium of the Internet and which do not? Which are apt to really resonate, and endure long-term and which aspects might whither off the vine because they are force-fitting engagement opportunities best done in-person? Remember that today’s virtual events might evolve to something quite different over time as organizers adjust content to what resonates and works best. There is no better time to start and experiment than now, as most in-person events remain paused. Let me offer my opinions below based on CEIR’s research findings. This discussion is not exhaustive. I will focus on a few key points.

Education, Education, Education!

Many organizers believe this is the primary driver of attendance to a virtual event. It makes sense to provide communities with the education they need to help advance their careers and provide competitive advantage for their organizations. Moreover, education sessions are great sponsorship opportunities for brand marketers looking to maximize brand awareness and thought leadership. This is a major sweet spot for virtual events. And perhaps might last long after in-person events restart.

Networking

Unstructured: The chat function is a powerful vehicle. Let participants (yes, attendees, exhibitors, speakers, whatever!) engage with each other as they see fit. It is the most popular option for facilitating engagement in today’s virtual events.

Structured: Replicating some types of networking that might otherwise happen at an in-person event may be harder to do.  Be realistic. People have only so much time or patience to engage online. Zoom fatigue is real. Make the structured networking opportunities compelling, valuable – perhaps peer-to-peer engagement, a facilitated discussion on a topic or issue of importance to professionals. Limit group size and have a video component so participants are talking amongst each other. Make sure peers are comfortable talking with each other in a video setting.  Use games to facilitate interactivity.

Brand Marketer/Exhibitor Opportunity Considerations

Though many virtual events include‘virtual exhibit booths’ for the two-dimensional space, does this really make sense? A marketplace, an Amazon-store-like experience makes more sense, though only 25% are using a marketplace landing page at this time, according to the CEIR study. Make sure that exhibitor product directories are searchable so interested participants can quickly drilldown to identify products or services that align with their needs. Tie-in brand marketer opportunities to enhance their product listings to maximize click-throughs. Offer pre-event marketing/advertising opportunities that support the end goals for participating in an event.  

During an education session at #ExpoExpo2020, presenter Dana Freker Doody, @expodana, cautioned organizers that virtual event participants are not necessarily willing to engage in a video conference with people they do not know. Texting is the method of communication where more interactivity might happen. CEIR’s study again points to popularity of the chat function for maximum engagement. So, is it wise to have ‘exhibitors’ waiting expectantly for video meet-ups with people they do not know given this observation by Dana? Exhibitors need to work it, do pre-event marketing, coordinate those meetups with sales team efforts happening prior to an event to enjoy higher outcomes. This is true for in-person shows too. Though in the virtual space, it may be a more urgent consideration.

Which takes me to my last point, setting exhibitor or brand marketer expectations to what a virtual event can deliver. Sales lead generation is definitely possible, though the nature of the engagement will be different. It is apt to accommodate sales lead capture of new prospects, capturing their contact info, though engagement with them is likely something to happen post-event. It also offers the chance to nurture leads of those with whom an exhibiting company has had prior contact. Perhaps such leads might be more willing to engage face-to-face in a video conference than someone who is completely new.  

Let Data Guide the Evolution of a Virtual Event

The power of virtual events is that every action can be quantified, tracked. It should be used dynamically by organizers and brand marketers to understand and refine approaches moving forward. Organizers can enhance content that is working and abandon content that is not. Exhibitors can assess which engagement approaches are working and which are not – e.g., chat vs. video meet-ups, what content triggers action, etc.

Time to Experiment is Now – Challenge/Opportunity

CEIR Global Virtual Event Study Part One documents gross revenues for the largest share of events falls below $250,000 USD; though it also documents that many achieve net profit, when calculating out-of-pocket costs to these gross revenues. It signals that these events offer a long-term opportunity to generate ancillary revenues for organizations that run or manage B2B exhibitions. The challenge will be to assure that what is offered is aligned with the revenue opportunity it presents.

There is no one right formula for these types of events. Experimentation will continue. The most agile and fearless perhaps will do best. Once in-person events happen again, and they will, the companion virtual events will inevitably require adjustments again. In today’s omnichannel marketing world, don’t expect virtual events to disappear. Expect synergies between the two mediums to grow.

CEIR will continue to monitor shifts in virtual event activity this year, so keep a watch.

In the meantime, I hope you join me and Matthew Donegan Ryan, US General Manager, Swapcard at Evolve 2.0 on February 25, where we will continue to discuss key findings and implications from this latest research.  Matthew will share his observations based on what has worked for their virtual event clients to-date. You want to hear what he has to say to help apply fast-changing best practices in this arena.

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Establishing what successful events look like during a time full of change

Today’s world has left the events industry with some uncertainty. Returning to in-person events will likely look different than it has in the past, but fortunately, YOU have the ability to lead the path and establish what the new normal can look like. This new normal will involve bringing part of your show online, turning it into a hybrid event. Bringing your exhibitor directory or booth sales online and incorporating a virtual component will have a positive impact on your show. Here are some ways hybrid can make your event a success:

Broaden Your Audience

An in-person only event can limit your reach. By offering both in-person and online attendance options to your attendees and exhibitors, you broaden your audience. Not only will you reach association members and past attendees, but other prospective attendees who may be restricted by travel limitations, geographic location, or who may be newer to the industry and not ready to invest the money to attend in-person. A hybrid event gives you the opportunity to grow your audience.

Increase Content Life Cycle

With traditional events, you are limited in terms of the amount of time that exhibitors can connect with attendees. Hybrid events allow exhibitors to share their content for a longer period of time versus in-person where there are usually specific event hours. Within the online directory, exhibitors can share new product releases, show specials, collateral, and even present live demonstrations. All of these items have a longer life cycle, giving more time to connect with potential leads.

Emphasize Pre and Post Show Communication

Another perk of adding a virtual component to your show is the opportunity to utilize pre and post show communication. This is an important component to emphasize to your exhibitors so they can give attendees a preview of what they will be offering and utilize your platform to follow up with leads that can become valuable business opportunities. Be sure to give your exhibitors examples of email templates, social media posts and other messaging so that they can effectively communicate. 

Allow Attendees to Customize Their Show Experience

Offering flexibility with in-person and online options allows attendees to create an experience that works best for them. Whether they are planning to walk the floor and visit exhibitors in-person, view content strictly online, or doing a combination of both, they have the option to choose how they want to experience your event. If you still want to drive in-person attendance, give incentives such as access to exclusive content, but offering a flexible option for attendance is important.

The new normal is right around the corner and its creation is going to rely heavily on you. Keep an open mind and explore your options to go hybrid as you plan your next event. The opportunities that lie within virtual components can have long term effects that increase the overall success of your event.

The post Creating the New Normal for Events appeared first on IAEE.

A once popular celebrity proudly, and rather oddly, proclaimed during an interview – “Winning!”. For those who followed the story, we’d likely respond with “yeah, not so much.” If only it was as easy as simply making exclamations, but life and business do not work that way. One must have a plan, a sound strategy, and then execute that plan effectively. Sure, strategies must be agile and evolve to address changing landscapes, but a successful business stays laser-focused on their plan. In today’s complex world, creating and executing those plans well often requires businesses to tap into proven expertise outside of their organization. How can we expect any single company to be the best at all disciplines? It is a wise leader that understands the company staff’s strengths and gaps and quickly finds the right help to support those critical areas. As the pace of change quickens with every year, these leadership decisions become even more fundamental to survival. This article takes a brief view of this challenge through the lens of information technology.

Although some within the Exhibitions and Meetings Industry may believe we’ve been a bit insulated from the continually raucous environment of the technology-driven consumer marketplaces, there is no doubt that this is no longer the case. The havoc wreaked by COVID-19 has broken all those loosely bound constraints on business process, innovation, adoption, and consumer behavior and thrust an entire industry headfirst into uncharted and frothy waters. I view this change more like a tension that had been building over years, if not decades, and resulted in a collective and sudden snap. But whether change comes in bursts or steady flows, it surely does and will forever do so. So let’s examine the nature of tech-driven change.
Many of you are likely familiar with the Pareto distribution. Within one organization in which I worked, we commonly called it “The Hockey Stick”. It’s also referred to as the Power-Law distribution and is related to that commonly known 80/20 rule (80% of our revenue comes from just 20% of our customers). Many aspects of business seem to follow this curve. This shape is an actual statistical distribution, much like the all-too-familiar normal distribution curve, but in reality far more common to come across in business. There are not too many business cases I’ve experienced that followed a normal distribution. However, one normal distribution curve that I have experienced and is still very applicable today is the Technology Adoption Life Cycle shown below.

Although I have experienced this adoption behavior first-hand through the technology products I’ve been involved with, the overall timeline from the beginning to the end of this curve continues to grow shorter every year. These days, much less like mountains, the “normal” distribution can feel more like small, quick speed bumps in succession.

Why talk about the Pareto curve? It’s a basic logarithmic curve that also represents the increasing rate of change we all are experiencing in technology, business, and even personal lives. And guess what, things are actually speeding up! There’s no big surprise here. A Harvard Business Review article written in 2019 entitled “The Pace of Technology Adoption is Speeding Up” (kind of gave away the punch line there, right?) shows graphically how adoption of new consumer technologies has quickened in the U.S. over the last several decades.

The telephone reached 10% adoption in 30 years but tablet devices to broke that milestone in less than five years. Similarly, it took 39 years for telephones to reach 40% penetration, yet smartphones accomplished that mark in under 10 years (and that’s if we define a smartphone as the introduction of the BlackBerry, which may be questionable). Wherever you look, for any subject that relates to technology, you see this curve, over and over again. How about the share of the population using the Internet? Or mobile cellular subscriptions? There may be slight variations in the slope and when the adoption began, but the Pareto curve is clearly present.

Why worry? Technology is making everything easier to manage, right? Well, maybe not so much. Of course, much has been simplified, but along with a broader and deeper level of functionality and capability, there is an associated complexity that underlies much of the technology forcing its way into every aspect of our lives. But we are frequently in a good news, bad news situation when it comes to increased technology. For example, that newly adopted HR system puts all our organization’s personnel management functions in one centrally located cloud service. We can retire those three legacy systems and plethora of unsecured spreadsheets floating around – that’s the good news! Here’s the bad news, or at least we’ll call it “reality check”. First, we have to import all our data correctly, with all the fields cleaned and organized, and that data is coming from six different locations. And once imported, we need our operations management system and our payroll system to be integrated in real time. And our cloud service provider was just merged with another firm and we’re being forced to migrate to another system. And the executive report we once relied upon is not available in this new system so we need to hire a third party technology consultant to customize the output. And, and, and…

What about this thing called “Cloud”? It’s a word that has almost lost its meaning due to overuse. Should all your servers be in the cloud? Which cloud provider is the right one? Or better yet, is there any difference between them at all? (You’re telling me we have to re-write the application we just developed 6 years ago to run completely from cloud microservices?) As-a-service is also very popular nowadays. Software-as-a-service. Infrastructure-as-a-service. Platform-as-a-service. Can we buy sanity-as-a-service yet?

As fast as adoption of cloud services has been, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we’re still very early in the Pareto elbow. Here’s a fun fact to ruminate upon. In 2019 the cloud services market was valued at $264.8 billion (yes, that’s a “B”). It’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.4% reaching $927.5 billion by 2027. Wow. What can you say but just “wow”?
One would be completely remiss in the discussion of complexity if the topic of cybersecurity was not generously sprinkled on top. The following data can, quite honestly, be terrifying to the aware business owner. I’m not trying to fan the flames of fear, just simply highlighting how fast our world is changing and introducing new, complex challenges. You’ll see that pesky Pareto curve in play again in the total damages in dollars by year.

For business leaders, the two most disturbing data points regarding security risks are the continual rise of insider threats and the rising costs of cybersecurity protection. It’s a stark reality that regardless of how much a company spends on hardening their internet facing environments against the faceless bad actors that plot against us from their bedrooms 5000 miles away, or just next door, the biggest risks to your company’s valuable customer data, financial information, and corporate IP lies in the hands of your trusted employees. To make matters worse, it’s not even the disgruntled or malicious insiders that are the primary concerns, but it’s the well-intentioned yet uninformed and untrained employee that accidently falls for the well-formed, well-timed spear phishing attack.

This growing cybersecurity challenge quickly becomes a classic risk vs. cost benefit analysis problem. Some amount of risk is inherent in the system, so how do business leaders make the right decisions on this spend? Large companies with CIO’s, CISO’s, and skilled finance executives can dive deep into quantifying risk and benefits to help inform leadership budgeting decisions, but this analysis is costly and out of reach to many smaller or mid-sized organizations.

But enough about risk and cyber criminals. How do things look if we turn our attention to our immediate competitors and industry? Surely the view will be a little more comforting. Don’t hold your breath as a little thing called creative destruction is alive and well and on the rise. The 33-year average tenure of companies on the S&P 500 in 1964 narrowed to only 24 years by 2016 and is forecast to shrink to just 12 years by 2027. If this is not a loud enough warning, let’s state it this way: About half of the current S&P 500 will be replaced in the next 10 years.

This disruption is not only true for the largest companies but extends all the way down to small businesses and no doubt associations as well. There are certainly instances where entire industries are disrupted by an unforeseen force. COVID-19 has had that effect on so many in retail, food services, transportation, hospitality, and the meetings and events industries. But just as much disruption, if not more, is occurring naturally from proprietary advances and innovations that have drastic implications within a competitive environment. These changes are very often sparked or fueled by technological innovation or effective and timely adoption of information technologies. These are the types of changes that can be under your control. One study from Innosight found that 80% of executives agreed or strongly agreed that their company needed to transform – that is to change their core offerings or business model in response to rapidly changing markets.

Critical to addressing this very complex and dynamic business environment is a strong technology strategy thoroughly integrated with business priorities. In fact, I hesitate to use the word ‘integrate’ in that sentence as it indicates that technology strategy and business priorities are separate and must come together. That is old-school thinking. Today, any business’s strategy must contain, if not be built upon, a strong technology foundation.

Now and from this point forward the answer to these critical leadership questions must be based in technology.

• How will we grow?
• How will we differentiate ourselves from our top competitors?
• How will we attract the best employees and keep them engaged?
• How will we control our costs while upgrading our capabilities?
• What is our next product/service line?
• How can we serve our customers or members better and increase retention?
• How do we best protect our reputation and brand?
• What’s the best way to ensure reliability and scalability of our services?

There is good news awaiting within this challenge. There is plenty of professional and experienced assistance available. Just like so many functional specialties have branched out of the corporate walls to become entire service industries unto themselves, such as accounting and finance, marketing, sales, customer service, software development, and managed service providers, so now too has strategic technology leadership reached its time and calling. Driven by market demand and intense need, IT executives with decades of experience have created consulting organizations to provide the strategic and operational execution leadership required for today’s businesses of all sizes. Now high-level expertise is readily available to organizations that have not yet grown to a point to justify their own full-time IT executives.

These professionals can be engaged at the exact level that is custom fit for any specific need or organization. They can join your leadership team on a fractional basis, quickly come up to speed on your competitive pressures and opportunities, understand your growth strategies, help expand the technology vision to support the objectives, and then ensure the right team members are engaged effectively to execute successfully. These engagements could begin as a handful of hours every month to several hours every week, but what’s important is that it doesn’t require these growing small or mid-sized organizations to invest in a fulltime executive right off the bat. For many years, the markets for fractional CFOs or CMOs has existed and has become common practices for growing firms and now the CIO function has joined those ranks.

A well-balanced, experienced, highly functional leadership team is every organization’s best chance to stave off these fierce winds of change, to identify the hidden opportunities lurking around the dark corners, and to be one of the few remaining companies years from now that look back at their journey in proud amazement at the pivots and transformations in which the company not only survived but thrived. It is my hope that you can experience being a part of an organization in that enviable position and collectively exclaim – “Winning!”

Resources

• https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rising-speed-technological-adoption/
• https://hbr.org/2013/11/the-pace-of-technology-adoption-is-speeding-up#:~:text=It%20took%2030%20years%20for,15%20before%20they%20became%20ubiquitous
• https://ourworldindata.org/technology-adoption
• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cloud-services-industry-2020-2027-key-trends–growth-opportunities-301096078.html
• https://www.cybersecurity-insiders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Insider-Threat-Report-2018.pdf
• https://www.innosight.com/insight/creative-destruction/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/273550/data-breaches-recorded-in-the-united-states-by-number-of-breaches-and-records-exposed/

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